Not Yet....

We've been on the lookout for a puppy for our kids for some time now and we thought we ran into some good fortune recently. A coworker of my dad's had to give up his 18 month old (a little mix-up - we were told 6 month old and after checking out his papers, realized that he was born in Nov of '04 and was 18 months) jack russell terrier and it needed a new home. We thought he'd be great for us. With a little research into the breed to find out his tendencies, needs, etc., we decided to adopt him into our family. My dad brought the dog from the office over to our house yesterday after I got home from work.

We brought all of his stuff into the house and were waiting for Jen and the kids to get home. We met them outside when they got home. Right away the boys were excited to see him, but didn't care for it when he tried to jump up and kiss them to say hello. Alexis cried as soon as he touched her. After a few minutes the boys took a liking to him and ran around the yard playing with him (while I still had him on the leash). My dad went back to his house and the rest of us went inside. As soon as I took the leash off, he went straight for the kids wanting to play and to say hello with kisses/licks. Nicky wound up on the dining room table in his attempts to get away, Alexis up in mommy's arms and TJ with me. Not a good start.

I grabbed his leash and the boys and I took him outside for a walk. We were out for 10-15 minutes and he did what he had to do so we went back to the house and inside. Again, too much affection and jumping from the dog and the kids were not happy with him inside. Back on the leash and I put him in the backyard to run off some energy. Jen's sister and her son Joey came over for dinner and I brought the dog inside to meet them. It was as if the dog was on a pogo stick and couldn't stop jumping. At first Joey was amused and laughed while the dog jumped up and licked him, but after 20 seconds he got annoyed, and after the dog scratched him accidentally, he cried. Back outside for the dog to let off some steam.

After a few minutes of outside time, I brought the dog back in and attached his leash to the dining room chair that I was sitting in for dinner. It was probably a combination of tiredness and knowing that he was leashed to the chair, but he quieted down and laid at my feet during dinner. After dinner I took off his leash and he got up and walked around the house. As soon as he stepped foot in the playroom where the 3 boys were watching tv, Nicky shot up and was standing on the back of the couch screaming for us to get the dog out of there. I took the dog out of the room and closed the door for them.

I put the dog's little bed (a big cushion that came with him) next to my chair in the living room and sat down to watch some tv. The dog came over and laid down in his bed and closed his eyes. Veronica brought Alexis over to me and she sat in my lap to read a book. She noticed the dog sitting next to me and wouldn't get down for a few minutes. She eventually did get down, but wouldn't go more than arm's length away. She kept peeking over my leg to look down at the dog and after 10-15 minutes she figured he wasn't going to get up and move so she walked past him.

Thomas was a little bolder than Nicky and came out of the playroom a few times to come within 10 feet of the dog to squat down and check to make sure his eyes were still open. He went inside to the playroom the first time and told Nicky that the dog was dead. Nicky peeked his head around the corner to check and noticed that he was only sleeping and went straight back in to the playroom.

After dessert I took the dog and all his stuff back to my dad's house for him to bring back to work today. It was obvious that although the kids (well, TJ and Alexis) had warmed up a little to him, it wasn't going to work out. The dog, in his sleeping/tired state, was OK with the kids but in his wide awake, active state, the kids didn't want to be near him unless he was outside and I had him on a leash. I feel bad for the dog because he was a good dog and didn't do anything wrong. It was just a wrong fit for my kids at this time. I still think a dog will be good for them but we'll have to find a puppy who is small and won't be as intimidating as a full grown dog and can grow with them and also a breed that is not quite as frisky as this one. We'll have to figure out plan "B" now....

Hammer....Nail....

I found this test on Jerry's site and here are my results:

You Have A Type B Personality

B You're as laid back as they come... Your baseline mood is calm and level headed Creativity and philosophy tend to be your forte Like a natural sedative, you have a soothing effect on people Friends and family often turn to you first with their problems You have the personality to be a spiritual or psychological guru

Do You Have a Type A Personality?

Not Really Sure....

It's been two weeks since my grandmother passed away and I wasn't really sure how to get back into blogging. Not that I blogged so frequently beforehand, but I couldn't decide what would be an appropriate subject to blog about next. So I'll touch on a few subjects here....

I've only been to one other Jewish funeral before and it was my grandfathers. I don't remember much of it because it was nearly 20 years ago so I can't really compare the two. My parents, sister, wife, and I arrived at the funeral home around 10:30. We met up with my uncle and cousins who were there already. My parents and uncle worked out a few details with the rabbi and friends and family started arriving. We got there early so that we could place a few items in the casket with grandma. We gave pictures of our kids and a New York state quarter to the rabbi to put in the coffin. The ceremony took place around 11:00. It was relatively quick. The rabbi said a few words about grandma and let a couple of traditional prayers then we all headed out to our cars to head to the cemetery. The funeral ceremony was again relatively short and simple. A few prayers led by the rabbi and then folks were allowed to either throw a ceremonial flower or shovelful of dirt into the grave. Afterwards most of the people headed back to grandma's apartment for a little gathering. My parents had been out to her apartment in the preceding days to get it ready for the day and had put out a bunch of found treasures they had come across while cleaning out the apartment. There were dozens and dozens of old photos dating back generations. As much as it was a sad day, I think everyone enjoyed getting to go through the pictures and reminiscing about old times. One good thing to come from the day is that I exchanged email addresses with my cousin Mark who I hadn't seen in years (not counting grandma's 90th birthday party a month ago) and we agreed that we (including my other cousin - his brother - Warren) should keep in touch more often. Back when we were living in Brooklyn and he lived on Long Island we got to see each other quite often. We all lost touch many years ago and having grandma pass away made us realize that we shouldn't let physical distance keep family apart, especially now when technology (i.e. email, IM, etc..) makes it so much easier to stay in touch.

This past weekend I took Nicky, Thomas, Joey, and my sister to the Nets/Raptors game. This was Nicky's second game of the season and once again, the only thing he was concerned about watching were the Nets dancers. Thomas fell asleep a few minutes before halftime and Joey was just about out when Nicky stood up, put his hat and coat on, and said "Let's go home." Seeing as how we had 1.5 boys sleeping and the other didn't want to stay, we agreed it was best to go to my parents' house and watch the end of the game while the boys had their naps.

I've never mentioned this on my blog before, but I'm pretty sure the 4 people reading this will know about it anyway. For those who don't, you can email me and I'll fill in details if you want. My brother, Adam, has cut himself off from the family over the past year or so. It first with a situation between my dad and Adam and his girlfriend and then it mushroomed to the whole family. So Adam has had no contact with anyone except for our mother (and only because she has been the one to initiate contact) and our grandmother (my mom's mom who lives in Kansas - and again, only because grandma initiates contact). Our grandma Elsa who just passed, did not like what Adam was doing to the family and stayed away from the whole situation as best she could. She invited Adam and his fiance to her 90th birthday party. He declined the invitation - not because he had prior engagements, but because the rest of us would be there. He also showed up to the funeral but went straight home afterwards and did not go back to grandma's apartment with the rest of the people because we (his immediate family) were there. He also did not show up the my parents' house while they sat shiva the three days following the funeral. I've done a lot of thinking about the situation with Adam over the past year or so and it has torn at me a lot. He is my brother and always will be, but it hurts to not have a relationship with him any more. I could go through everything that was said and done last year and list reasons why things have deteriorated, but there really is only one major theme that sums it up for me and that was made very clear recently. It's his "me first" attitude, where he thinks everything should be about him. Grandma's 90th birthday bash was a huge success and was probably the happiest day of her life in the past few years. Every single relative who could physically be there made it to the party. The only one who didn't show was her nephew who lives in California. Grandma had a smile on her face that you couldn't wipe off the whole day. That day would have been almost perfect had Adam shown up. Watching a casket being buried was only a small part of the funeral/grieving process. The gathering at the apartment afterwards and sitting shiva is the most important part. Getting together with long lost relatives and family friends where you're not reminded about sadness by having to look at a wooden coffin, instead relaxing, looking at old photos, retelling of old and new stories - that is what it's all about. A petty quarrel mushrooming into what it had become can get fixed. Adam choose to put his interests in front of grandma's in both occasions and for that, he has a lot to make up for. It's one thing to take something out on us because of what he sees as him being wronged by us, but it's another to ruin something special for my grandmother (in both life and death) that really hurts.

That reminds me, I've got an email to write to my cousin...